Halo Age
by TimeLordSPARTAN
Summary: Scott-567 Had lost both his squadmates. He was... alone. Merrill sat on the rock in the clearing, thinking. Her clan hated her, and even those she considered friends had drifted away. Two worlds, two characters, will collide. Will they be compatible? Or will something go horribly, horribly wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Scott-567 Had lost both his squadmates. Jane-139 was lost in a slip-space accident - no-one knew where she or her pod were now - and Max-094 had vanished in a second, unrelated slip-space accident. Of Alpha-Omega, the First and the Last, Scott was the last. Captain Lasky had noticed his depression, and suggested he practice in the War Games arenas. He smiled beneath his silver visor - not that anyone could see that. He had always been the least expressive SPARTAN on the _Infinity_. He returned to Alpha-Omega's room, sighing. Normally, Max would be in that corner, using his hardlight swords to slash some poor, innocent training dummy to pieces. Normally, Jane would be lying on her bunk, reading something on her datapad. Now they were both gone, dead for all he knew, and he was the last. He was... alone.

"Now, don't think like that, Viper. You'll never be alone." Jenna spoke up. "We always have each other. That's part of my purpose in being assigned to you. A SPARTAN and his A.I. are supposed to be a more effective team than any squadron."

Scott-567 - Viper - hung his head. He reached back to the port at the back of his helmet, pulling the A.I chip out. Jenna's avatar manifested on it. Her general body shape was much like Kate's - Jane's A.I. - except for the fact that Kate had been dressed in casual dress, where Jenna was wearing SPARTAN armor - well, that was a bit of an overstatement. She wore the boots, the gloves, the chest plate and the crotch cover.

"I'm not used to being alone, you know? They were my best friends - other than you, of course - and now they're gone. Sure, they weren't the most social of people - Max never said anything to me unless it was some kind of taunt or challenge, and Jane was reading all the time - but they were my squad mates! We saved each others' asses countless times, and that brought us closer and closer together. And now, they're both gone. In a matter of hours." Jenna looked at him sadly.

"I miss them too. Kate and Firestar were the two greatest friends an A.I. could have, and they vanished with Jane and Max. Seriously, though, Viper, we need to get over it! Lasky was right, you need to do some training. Get your mind off of Jane and Max for awhile." Viper thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

* * *

Merrill sat on the rock in the clearing, thinking. Had she been right to keep the shard? Or had she been wrong this whole time. Alienated from her tribe, she was more alone than ever before. They hated her, and even those she considered friends had drifted away. Then there was Lasen Mahariel. He and Tamlen had been the ones who had discovered the Eluvian, and Tamlen had been completely obliterated by it. Lasen, however, had managed to crawl his way back to camp and warn them after shattering the Eluvian. Unfortunately, he had succumbed to the Darkspawn taint not long after. Merrill had gone into the cave and collected a single shard, using blood magic learned from a Fade spirit to cleanse it. Now, everyone hated her, and the one person who might have stayed with her was dead.

* * *

Viper felt a mental tug. It was weak, but insistent. Jenna, her chip sitting on the table in front of him, noticed it. She watched as he grabbed his weapons - MA12C HLWS (or HardLight Assault Rifle, or HLA rifle) and SRS99-S5 HL (or HardLight Sniper), as well as his HardLight knife - like a small hardlight sword - and stood in the middle of the room.

"Viper?" He looked at her for a moment, and took a single step toward her, intending to pick up her chip and insert it into his helmet, when he vanished in a flash of white light. "Viper!" Jenna screamed. He was gone. She was alone.

And so was Viper.

* * *

Viper appeared in a forest. He had no clue how he had got there, but Jenna was gone. He was alone.

He heard footsteps, and quickly turned on his Camo module - he didn't want anyone to know he was here _just yet_.

"Well, well, well, lookie what we have here!" a man whispered to his friends. "A young elf, just sitting on a rock with her eyes closed! She's not even armed!" His friends chuckled.

"She'll be an excellent specimen - once we've had our fun, of course." Viper clenched his fists and ground his teeth. These men were slavers! And from the sounds of it, they were planning on doing even worse than enslaving the poor girl they were talking about. He thought for a moment. The girl would probably be scared if he simply attacked the men and threw them into the clearing. He decided to wait and see just what they were planning. That way he could punish them just as much as he needed to, rather than too much or not enough. He followed them, not making a single sound despite his two-ton weight.

The girl opened her eyes. Her face was covered in strange tattoos, a personal preference, he supposed. The slavers took up three positions on different sides of the clearing, forming a triangle. As if on cue, all three stepped out of cover and walked toward the girl.

"Oh! Hello there!" the girl chirped, clearly unaware of the men's intentions. The men continued walking, silently. "I'm sorry, am I not meant to be here?" she asked, hoping for a response. As the men got closer, one of them gave an almost imperceptible nod. Immediately, the other two grabbed the girl's arms as the first man drew a knife.

"What are you doing!" the girl screeched. Viper tensed - the men were making their move. He decided to wait for ten more seconds unless the men actually used the knife.

The first man pushed the knife down the front of the girl's clothing, pulling it toward him with a ripping sound the girl was beginning to sob as her clothing was ripped apart.

Viper moved. His HardLight knife plunged into the first man's back, and the other two men dropped the now-naked girl in shock. The girl grabbed the tatters of clothing that were all that remained and hurriedly covered herself with them - very badly, but she really didn't have much to work with. The men tried to hit him, flailing around blindly with their swords - swords! Not even Plasma or HardLight, just swords of metal! - but his Camo module was just too effective for them to see him. He sliced the second man's head off, and finished the other man off with a burst from his HLA rifle. The girl was still sobbing as he switched off his Camo module. She gasped, scrambling back and forgetting her ruined clothing.

"Are you... a demon?" she asked. Viper chuckled.

"Only to my enemies. To you? no. To you, I'm the one who just saved you from three slavers who were also about to rape you." The girl didn't seem reassured.

"I'm Viper. What's your name?"

"Merrill," she replied.

"Do you have any family nearby, Merrill?" She thought for a moment. Her clan was her family, but they had all but cast her out. Did she really want to go back to them?

No. No she didn't.

She shook her head.

"Anyone who can take care of you?"

She shook her head again. Viper sighed. Jenna was gone, but here was someone who needed him even more than Jenna.

"Stay with me. I'll protect you." Merrill stared at his blank, silver visor - that had to be _metal_, didn't it, was this thing some kind of golem? - and nodded fearfully.

"First order of business," the golem said, "is to find you some new clothes."


	2. Chapter 2

_"Stay with me. I'll protect you." Merrill stared at his blank, silver visor - that had to be__ metal__, didn't it, was this thing some kind of golem? - and nodded fearfully._

_"First order of business," the golem said, "is to find you some new clothes."_

* * *

Viper stalked through the forest, hunting down the deer. He had no way of making Merrill any form of fabric, so the next best thing he could do was make her something to wear from deerskin. Of course, that meant killing the animal - without his sniper, as it'd incinerate it. The deer stopped in the clearing ahead. Viper drew his HardLight knife, activating it. The _hiss_ of it extending from the hilt startled the deer, and it bolted. "Szar!" he swore in Hungarian as he set off after it. His armor, combined with the augmentations that made him a SPARTAN-X, made him much faster than the deer, but the trees kept getting in his way. He made sure he memorized the way back as he ran. Finally, he caught up with it and slashed its neck open with his knife.

* * *

Merrill had set up a small fire, and was huddled close to it. Her clothes were ruined, those men had seen to that, but she wrapped herself in the tattered remnants anyway. A heavy thump and a snap of a twig signaled Viper's return. He dropped the headless deer onto the ground nearby and expertly removed the skin, his strange, golden knife cleaning it as he went. He hadn't spoken since he'd promised to find her some clothes, but she spoke up anyway.

"How is that finding me clothes?" she asked. The golem turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, was that rude? I'm not used to being around golems - or anyone, for that matter."

"Golems?" Viper asked. She nodded.

"I don't see how you can be anything else, I mean, you're too tall for a human or an elf or a dwarf, and you cant be a qunari - your helmet doesn't have room for horns." The golem reached up and twisted its head to the side. Merrill was astonished when he simply lifted off his 'head' to reveal a human face underneath.

"I'm not a golem. I'm a human. Not your average human, but still just human."

He returned to skinning the deer. As he pulled off the last piece of skin, he took something from the bulge on his left leg.

Viper threaded the needle and began to sew. He had a gift for figuring out people's measurements, and he had made clothes many times in the past, so it was quite simple to fabricate a simple pair of trousers as tight as Merrill's original trousers had been. When he had finished, however, there wasn't enough skin left for a full shirt. He improvised by making a shirt which would only cover half of her stomach and none of her arms. As he handed the garments to Merrill, she seemed intrigued by the design of the shirt.

"I ran out of skin," he said by way of explanation. She nodded, dropping her rags quite shamelessly and pulling his improvised deerskin clothes on. He supposed, since he had already seen her, it didn't matter if he saw her again. This time, though, he felt a strange warmth in his cheeks and he walked back to the deer. He didn't see Merrill, also blushing, sit down by the fire and drop her old clothes into it.

Viper had sliced large pieces of meat off of the deer, and was cooking them over the fire, when he heard a sound.

"Did you hear that?" he asked Merrill. She nodded, picking up a long stick with a strange piece of metal attached to the end. He had no clue where she'd got it from, but she held it as if she had been using it her whole life. He shrugged, pulling out his HLA rifle. Merrill watched, astonished, as the shards of metal assembled themselves into the weapon, which glowed orange at the seams.

A man walked out of the trees, his hands held in the air.

"Don't attack! My friends are back that way a bit..." he jerked a thumb in the direction he had come from, "and we were wondering if you'd like to join us for dinner?" Viper glanced at Merrill. The two had discussed what to do on the off chance they met anyone, and they had come to the conclusion that he should act like a golem under her control. As such, he made no decision, leaving it to Merrill.

"That sounds like a nice enough way to spend the evening," Merrill said brightly. "Would you mind if Viper brought the food we were cooking?" the man shook his head, and Viper walked over to the fire, taking the spit and holding it in his left hand while retaining his grip on his gun with his right.

They broke through the trees into a large clearing with several tents pitched in a seemingly haphazard formation. Among the people sitting near the fire was another man, this one slightly taller than the first and wearing thick leather garments, a dark-skinned, white-haired man with a massive sword nearby, a thin, pale, raven-haired woman wearing rather revealing clothing, a red-haired woman wearing red robes with gold embroidery, and an enormous, brown dog. The taller man looked over.

"Ah, you came. Welcome. I hope Alistair wasn't _too_ much of an idiot?" The first man - Alistair - looked affronted.

"I'm not an idiot!" The raven-haired woman looked up.

"Oh, please," she said. "We have a _dog_ and you are _still_ the dumbest one in the party!" the taller man chuckled at her comment.

"You've got that right, Morrigan," he said. The dog barked, irritated.

"Oh, be quiet, Barkspawn. You _know_ you're smarter than Alistair."

Merrill sat down near them, and Viper placed the spit over the fire.

"My name's Aeden Cousland. These are my allies, Morrigan," he indicated the raven-haired woman, who glanced at them before continuing to eat. "Sten," he waved a hand at the dark-skinned man, who nodded once and returned to sharpening his massive sword. "Leliana," he indicated the red-haired woman, who Viper was beginning to think must be some kind of priest. She waved at them and continued eating, delicately using a dagger to chop up her food before she ate. "Barkspawn," the dog barked happily and went back to his hunk of meat, eating with gusto. "And you've already met Alistair." Alistair sat down next to them and grabbed a piece of meat.

"You introduced the _dog_ before you introduced _me_, the other bloody Grey Warden!" Merrill looked up sharply as Viper pulled a piece of meat off of the spit and placed it on her plate.

"You're a Grey Warden?" she asked. Alistair looked uncomfortable.

"Aeden is, too. We're the last two Grey Wardens in Fereldan."

"Is it true, then? Is there a Blight going on?" Viper listened carefully to the conversation as Aeden interjected.

"Yes. It's only just started, really, but it's definitely getting into full swing. The horde of Darkspawn overran Ostagar a few days ago, and destroyed Lothering yesterday."

"What are Darkspawn?" Viper asked, unable to hold in his curiosity any longer. Merrill sighed as everyone looked at him. "Oh, right. Sorry," he said to Merrill.

"You are no any form of golem _I_ have ever heard of," Morrigan commented. Viper sighed.

"You're right. I'm not a golem."

"Then what _are_ you?" Alistair asked. "You're too tall to be anything but a qunari, and Sten here's the only qunari we've ever seen who doesn't have white skin and massive horns."

"I am not a qunari."

"Then what are you?" Morrigan asked.

"I am human."

Alistar snorted.

"Yeah, right."

Viper sighed. There was only one way to prove his claim. He stood up.

"Is this proof enough for you?" he asked, twisting his helmet.

* * *

Everyone was shocked as the massive figure of Viper stood up, asked "Is this proof enough for you?" and twisted its own head. What followed actually caused Merrill to shriek as Viper pulled his head off. The others had stood up, weapons drawn. Then they all saw the head beneath. The 'head' that he had pulled off was a helmet! They sat down, and Viper followed suit.

"Finally, I can eat something," he said, spearing a piece of meat with a blade of orange light which projected from his wrist.

"How did you do that?" Morrigan asked. Merrill was wondering the same thing. Viper glanced down at the blade he was eating off of, as if noticing it for the first time.

"It's a HardLight knife," he explained. "The UNSC developed it in the year 2603, following extensive analysis of Forerunner Hard Light generation and projection technologies. The blade is keen enough to cut through any matter even without the three-thousand-degrees-celsius temperature of the projected photons, and at the moment that heat is not active so that I can stab this meat." Everyone looked at him with the same expression on their faces - one of bewilderment. Dangit, he sighed internally, he had used _way_ too much technical and scientific jargon.

"Basically, it's a knife made of light that can cut through anything."

"But you're not a mage... are you?"

"Mage... as in magic? No. Magic doesn't exist." Everyone, even Merrill, glanced at one another.

"Viper," Merrill murmured, "magic is real." Viper looked at them all for a moment.

Then he started laughing.

"Oh, god, you guys _kill_ me!" he exclaimed. everyone else glanced at one another again. Viper was clutching his sides from laughing so hard, his eyes blurred from tears of mirth.

"Enough of this!" Morrigan exclaimed. She stood up, and a ball of fire appeared in each palm. Viper immediately stopped laughing as he realised what was happening.

"What the... but that's... wha..." he began to make incomprehensible sounds right before he fell over onto his back, out cold.

* * *

_Scott-567 stood in the campsite of his new friends, completely alone. But something was different. Everything was tinged with yellow and covered in mist. Scott himself was not wearing his armor - he was, in fact, wearing the one-piece, form-fitting black synthetic-fibre garment that was worn under the armor. He looked around, noticing the strange, scaled pattern of the ground. Where was he?_

_"Viper!" someone called from behind him. He didn't recognise the voice, but something told him it was a Monitor, like the ones they had met on the Halo rings. He turned, and, sure enough, a sphere of metal floated there, a glowing purple 'eye' in the middle._

_"I am 606 Maker's Breath, monitor of this installation."_

_"This is a Forerunner installation?" Viper asked. Maker's Breath dipped its 'eye' in acknowledgement._

_"The Forerunners were studying the effects of a global connection on humans."_

_"A global connection?" _

_"Nanomachines, implanted into human's blood, connecting their thoughts to a computer program meant to fade out the boundaries of distance and allow global communication. The humans eventually referred to it as the Fade, after its purpose of "fading" the boundaries. After this was completed, the Forerunners added capabilities to the nanomachines, allowing some of them to manipulate matter."_

_"Like magic?"_

_"Exactly. Then something went wrong. The entities within the program, the "administrators" began to attempt to become more human. They inspired their entire being on single human attributes - Justice, Faith, Compassion, Valor, et cetera. Exactly half of the administrators took on virtues like the ones I have listed, and the humans called them "Spirits." The other half, however, took on sins, such as Pride, Sloth, Desire, Rage, et cetera. They always try to subvert humans from the "Fade" and are referred to as "Demons.""_

_"So this is the "Fade?"" Scott asked. Again, the monitor dipped its eye._

_"So I have these nanomachines in me? When did that happen?"_

_"When you were born," the Monitor replied._

* * *

Viper woke with a start, sitting up suddenly. Merrill woke up at the same time, having been violently pushed off of his armored chest, where she had unknowingly shifted to during the night. she hit the ground hard, but immediately ran to the SPARTAN's side again, trying to calm him down. Viper was breathing heavily, deeply and quickly all at once, and he was shuddering. She lay her hand on his shoulder as he reached up, twisted his helmet off and threw it violently aside, where it rolled for a moment before hitting Barkspawn. The war-hound immediately stood up, growling, which in turn woke Alistair and Aeden.

Aeden himself also awoke with a start.

"Bad dream?" Merrill asked Viper hesitantly. He shook his head.

"Not good or bad, just... wierd."

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"You won't believe me," he responded, "but all right."

He explained the dream to her, changing the monitor into a metal eyeball instead of a monitor.

"You saw the Fade," Merrill mused, "_as_ the Fade. No-one can do that unless they're a mage... or under the effect of a Sloth demon, but there's no demons nearby. You aren't a mage, though, you've never even seen magic before..."

Morrigan walked over, having been disturbed by Barkspawn's barking. She tossed Viper his helmet.

"Yours, I believe."

"Sorry, wierd dream. I was having trouble breathing, so I just kinda threw my helmet away." The raven-haired witch simply shrugged.

"What form of 'wierd dream' was this?"

"He saw the Fade in its natural state," Merrill told her. Morrigan raised a thin eyebrow at the young elf's comment.

"He told you this?"

"No, but he described the effects perfectly." Seemingly convinced, Morrigan sat down near the elf and the SPARTAN.

"A strange thing indeed, to have seen the raw Fade yet not be a mage..." she murmured.

"The floating metal eye also told me something else," Viper interrupted. Both women looked at him.

"These _things_ that are supposedly in your blood which make you mages," he continued, "have supposedly also been in my blood since I was born. How this wasn't noticed by the UNSC, I have no idea, but there it is."

"If these metal organisms are the cause of a mage's powers, that would make yourself a mage also."

"That's why I doubt Maker's Breath."

"Maker's Breath? That's a common oath uttered by most humans in Fereldan!" Merrill exclaimed.

"Yeah, well the floating eyeball is called 606 Maker's Breath."

"Intriguing.." Morrigan murmured.

"You'd best get back to sleep," Aeden called over to them. "We've got a long walk tomorrow."

Viper nodded, laying back down with his helmet on and falling asleep almost instantly - SPARTAN-X's had excellent control over when they slept. Merrill lay down next to him, snuggling up closer to the giant of a man who had protected her, hunted for her and replaced her clothing. She'd never admit it, but she felt closer to Viper than she'd ever felt towards anyone in her clan.

And so, arranged like this, they slept.


	3. Chapter 3

_Scott was dreaming again. This time, though, he had no clue where he was. A floating island in a sea of mist._

_"Viper!" Someone called from behind him. Why was this so familiar... wait, hadn't his last dream been like this?_

_"Viper!" The voice called again. He turned, and there was Merrill._

_"Oh, good, I thought it was you," the elf said, clearly relieved. "Without all that armor, you look quite different." Viper nodded, slightly suspicious._

_"How do I know you're you?" he asked._

_"I'll wake us up. When you wake up, say this to me: Era him then"_

_"Era him then," he repeated. "What does it mean?"_

_"Sleep becomes awakeness."_

* * *

Viper jolted awake in the same instant as Merrill. He had woken up less violently than before, but his face was still covered in a cold sweat, which he took off his helmet to wipe away. Merrill turned to him.

"Well?" she asked.

"_Era him then,_" Viper murmured. Merrill's eyes widened.

"So you CAN enter the Fade..." she murmured. Morrigan, who had been watching them, walked over.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We talked," Viper replied.

"Yes, I saw that," Morrigan responded, "but what about before you woke up?"

"We talked in the Fade, is what Viper means," Merrill chipped in. "I told him an elvish phrase when we spoke, and he repeated it when we woke up,"

"And I don't have a _clue_ what elvish is, unless its the language of elves."

"Exactly right," Merrill told him.

* * *

The group walked through the forest. They were nearing the Circle Tower, Aeden had told Viper, and they intended to enter it. Both Morrigan and Merrill had been horrified by the idea, but both girl's natural curiosity had overcome this shock and both wanted to be a part of the group that went in.

"If Merrill is going into that _prison_," Viper told Aeden, "then I'm going with her. And it would take more than a strong man, a noble thief, a priest and a dog to stop me." Morrigan had cut in then, mentioning that it would also be a mage attempting to stop him, before asking to speak with Aeden alone.

"Bring him with us," Morrigan urged. "We have not seen his capabilities for ourselves, but the young elf told me he killed three heavily armed men without seeming to exert himself, saving her at the same time. He followed this by hunting down a deer with nothing but his hands and that blade of light, and fashioning clothes for her from its skin. She had lost her own when the men attacked her. Alistair interrupted as this man was cooking their dinner - the very same deer he had killed. This man is clearly a man of many talents, and a invaluable warrior."

Aeden thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well. We will bring him with us. I had considered bringing Sten, but Viper will most likely prove to outmatch him."

* * *

"Oh, a Grey Warden, eh? I've got some papers here, too! They say I'm the queen of Antiva! What have you got to say to that?" The Templar was starting to get on Viper's nerves. He pushed Aeden aside, careful not to injure the man, and held his HardLight knife to the Templar's throat.

"Take us to the tower now, and you might not end up floating in that lake with a red smile on your neck," he warned. Morrigan laughed at the Templar's expression, while Merrill looked horrified at Viper's threat. the Templar dry-swallowed. Three times.

"I'll just... I'll take you to the tower then, shall I?"

Viper nodded, sheathing his knife.

"Viper," Merrill whispered to him as they sat down in the boat, the SPARTAN's two-ton weight making it sit dangerously low, "you wouldn't have really killed him, would you?" Viper shook his head.

"He wasn't going to hurt me... or you."

"Or me?" Merrill asked, slightly surprised.

"Every time I look at you, I just... I just feel this intense _need_ to keep you safe. With my squadmates Max and Jane, I helped them out, sure, but they could handle themselves. With you... I just... I feel like you're just so... _innocent_. Like you'd never hurt anyone unless you had to." Merrill blushed intensely, ducking her head.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked. Viper placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Merrill," he began, "I have never felt this way about anyone else before. I just wanted you to know that." She nodded again. Aeden and Morrigan shifted uncomfortably, and the Templar just kept steering the boat.

* * *

Viper switched on his tunnel lights. They were less effective than his night vision, but they also let the others see. Aeden had promised to save any mages he could and bring back First Enchanter Irving to stop the Templars from killing everything in the tower. Already they had met a group of mages, one of whom had wanted to join them. Aeden had allowed her to join them, provided she leave Morrigan and Merrill alone. A sound came from a room to his right. Immediately, he flattened himself against the wall next to the door, raising his arm to halt the others.

"Movement," he murmured. "Wait..."

The thing in the room moved again, and he checked his motion tracker.

"Hostile." He burst into the room, aiming his HL sniper. He immediately spotted the target, a mage which was clearly changed. It was bloated, red and covered in thick veins. It reminded him too much of the Flood, which he had fought on the last Halo ring. With a wild cry, he pulled both triggers on his weapon, unleashing both blasts of Hard Light into the abomination. The Hard Light shots tore through the flesh of the creature, one blasting through its stomach while the other blew off its head. He lowered the gun, breathing heavily. A phrase from an old movie popped into his head.

"Surprise, motherf**ker," he said. Merrill, Morrigan, Aeden and Wynne (the mage who had insisted on joining them) looked at the abomination with something like awe. Merrill was the only one who saw the weapon he was holding fly apart as he placed two canisters of Hard Light into the main beam. the HL sniper reassembled itself, and he turned to the others.

"Room's empty. Lets move."

* * *

_"Damnit," Scott muttered. He was in the Fade again. He glanced around, and there was Max and Jane. He knew what was happening, of course: these were a demon or demons, and they were trying to possess his body._

_"Viper!" Demon-Max called, waving him over. Viper proceeded to do so, readying his HardLight knife._

_"Where've you been, man? We've been waiting for ages!" Viper simply stood there. This time, he was fully armored and equipped - the Sloth demon had clearly been in a hurry. He grabbed Demon-Max by the throat as it turned away, plunging the HardLight knife into its back. the demon's true form was revealed - a massive, spiny demon which he somehow recognized as a Pride demon - as he moved on to Demon-Jane. His HardLight knife opened its neck and it revealed its true form - another Pride demon - before following Demon-Max and dissolving into ash._

_"Viper!" Aeden called. He turned to face him, but as he did so he was surrounded by golden light._

_"Well, crap," he said as the scene changed before his eyes._

* * *

The Sloth Abomination lay dead at his feet. He turned to face the others, who were only just beginning to wake up. As Merrill blinked twice, he knelt down next to her and helped her sit up.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded - but Viper could see that something was wrong.

"I saw my clan," she said.

"Your clan? You said you had no-one to take care of you."

"They all but cast me out. They weren't my family any more." Viper nodded.

"What did you see?"

She shuddered.

"They were dead. All of them. Slain by my hand." She broke down into tears, and Viper pulled her closer. She relaxed into his chest, sobbing quietly. Wynne, Morrigan and Aeden shifted uncomfortably, and Viper helped Merrill to stand.

"We can talk about it later," he said. "Right now, we have a job to do, and these nightmares will just get in our way." She nodded, and they continued through the tower.

* * *

Viper faced down the massive demon.

"I killed two of your kind in the Fade, you know," he told it, dodging as it slammed its fists right where he had been standing. "Okay, not in the mood for a chat? I can deal with that."

He drew his HLA rifle, sending a burst of Hard Light into its body. With his other hand, he pulled the HL sniper from his back and pulled both triggers, the combined force of the two blasts blowing one of the creature's arms off.

"Come on, then!" he shouted, putting his HL sniper back on his back, "Show me what you've got!" The demon obliged, grabbing him with its remaining hand.

"Now you die," it told him. Viper's arms were pinned to his sides, and he couldn't do anything to resist.

Or could he?

His hands began to glow.

"When will you people ever learn," he replied, staring straight into the demon's eyes.

"SPARTANS NEVER DIE!" With a mighty shove he freed his arms and brought his hands to face the demon, his palms glowing like flashlights. A burst of energy blasted from each palm, striking the demon through the eyes. It howled, dropping him, and he quickly picked up a pair of heavy swords - his augmented strength easily compensating for their weight - leaped into the air and plunged them into the Pride demon's chest.

"Oh, and one more thing," he told it as it began to glow orange along cracks in its skin. "Prometheans suck." The demon exploded, hurling Viper across the room.

"Viper! Viper! Are you okay? Viper!" He sat up, glancing at Merrill, who was shaking his arm.

"Calm down, I'm fine," he told her, standing up. They headed back down the stairs along with Wynne, Morrigan, Aeden and the newly-free mages.

* * *

"Viper, I need to talk to you about something." He glanced at Merrill before returning to cooking.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"I feel like I need to go back to my clan."

"If that's the way you feel, then we can go in the morning." Merrill stared at him, astonished.

"You want to go with me?" she asked. Viper nodded.

"For two reasons. One, it's not exactly safe out there, so you'll need me to keep you safe, and two, I'm really quite interested in knowing more about the culture of these "Dalish" elves." _And three, I can't just watch you leave. Even if you were going somewhere I couldn't follow, I'd try. I'd try to follow you even if it meant my death. Can't you see that?_

Merrill visibly relaxed, sitting own next to him.

"Thank you, Viper." He shook his head.

"My real name's Scott. Viper's just a nickname." Merrill realized the significance of his telling her this. He had never told anyone his name before - no-one _she'd_ met, anyway.

"Thank you, Scott."


End file.
